Australia and Asia

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US pivot is faltering, which might be a good thing

By Geoff Miller, former Australian Ambassador to Japan (1986-89) and former Director-General of the Office of National Assessments (1989-95). In their Interpreter article of 27 March, Bates Gill and Tom Switzer respond to questioning of the durability of the US 'pivot' (or 're-balance') towards the

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Australia-Japan defence agreement: Normal, not extraordinary

If, as expected, Australia and Japan sign a defence equipment agreement today, this should be seen as a normal and welcome development in the bilateral relationship (as ASPI's Peter Jennings notes) and certainly should not lead Australia to seek some kind of 'counterbalancing' reaction in Australia-

By Malcolm Cook

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What Abbott's business delegation can learn in Japan, Korea and China

Prime Minister Abbott's team for his current visit to Japan, South Korea and China is certainly business-heavy. So too was his warm-up speech, which one observer suggested might be seen as 'a tad too mercantilist'. Nothing wrong with that. Concentrating on trade seems sensible given the many

By Stephen Grenville

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Abbott to sign security pact with Japan, but what will he offer China?

Media reports predict that Australia and Japan will sign a historic defence and security pact when Prime Minister Tony Abbott visits Japan this weekend. If this news is accurate, one must hope that Australia has prepared a major security-related deliverable for Abbott to propose to President Xi

By Linda Jakobson

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Abbott goes to Asia: The security dimension

Prime Minister Abbott poses with the leaders of the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean military efforts searching for MH370 at RAAF Base Pearce. Tony Abbott is about to depart on the most important international visit of his prime ministership thus far. Over the next week he will visit Japan,

By Rory Medcalf

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Abbott sees a more liberal China ahead

Well, all glory is indeed fleeting. Having just given The Interpreter a pat on the back for our Asia coverage, I'm embarrassed to admit that we are late to Prime Minister Abbott's Asia Society speech, delivered on Tuesday to set the scene for his early-April Asia trip. The speech is trade

By Sam Roggeveen

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Don't let fear stand in the way of a debate on a larger Australia

Australia's founding governor, Arthur Philip, expected the settlement he led would in time become 'the Empire of the East'. In his important and timely National Press Club address, Michael Fullilove is more modest but he makes a powerful case for a national conversation on whether Australia

By Philip Flood

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Down under? Boxing kangaroos? Australia's outdated self-image

Nick Bryant is the author of the forthcoming book The Rise and Fall of Australia. Australia requires a rhetorical rethink, for the language used to describe itself is ridiculously out of date. Take the vocabulary of isolation and peripheralism. Old-fashioned constructs like 'the land down under

By Nick Bryant

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Australia-Indonesia relations: It's always personal

The men and women who operate the levers of power in Indonesia know us far better than we know them. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Cabinet contains several members with tertiary degrees earned by living and studying in Australia. Among the President's trusted advisers are men who studied

By Gary Hogan

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Incompetence: Australia's incursions into Indonesian waters

The Joint Review of the incursions by Australian vessels into Indonesian waters conducted by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) released last week reveals that the incursions were a consequence of a failure to appreciate the extent

By Sam Bateman

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Spying row: Why Indonesia is tougher on Canberra than on Washington

Australia has copped the ire and sarcasm of Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa over fresh spying allegations reported in the New York Times last weekend. Meanwhile, the US, Australia’s alleged partner in the reported espionage, has emerged unscathed. As Natalegawa welcomed US

By Catriona Croft-Cusworth

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Can Australia-India ties flourish if governments are asleep?

It is said that 'India grows at night while the government is asleep'. The message is that the economy would grow faster if government got out of the way. This phrase was adapted by Professor Amitabh Mattoo – a living embodiment of efforts to improve Australia-India relations – in opening the

By Melissa Conley Tyler

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East China Sea: Is Australia hitting the 'pause' button on the Japan relationship?

Maybe Robert E Kelly is right that there has been too much gnashing of teeth and tearing of clothes over the very short change given to Asia in Barack Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address. But as indicated by the title, this is the President's one big annual speech about America, so it is

By Robert Ayson

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What Peter Cosgrove thinks about Indonesia

Australia's incoming Governor-General has put many of his thoughts to paper in various publications and talks in recent years. No doubt they will be subject to close examination by commentators before he is sworn in in March. Cosgrove has had a lot to do and say about Indonesia during the past

By Peter McCawley

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Australia-China relations off the rails? Not so fast

Former Australian ambassador to China Dr Stephen FitzGerald threw brickbats at the Abbott Government this week. In a guest post on John Menadue's blog, Fitzgerald took aim at the government for endangering Australia-China relations. He dates his criticism back to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's

By Vaughan Winterbottom

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Australia-Indonesia relations: Getting ahead of the curve

Gary Hogan brings a light touch to explaining the otherwise depressing oscillations of the Australian-Indonesian relationship, but his sine-wave theory conveys the wrong policy message. It's as if the oscillations are inevitable, even pre-ordained. Of course there is a fair bit of reversion-to-

By Stephen Grenville

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Snowden leaks now hurting US exports, so is spying worth it?

Yesterday Peter McCawley noted that revelations of Australian spying on Indonesia are threatening to damage bilateral trade talks. Today, more evidence that the Snowden leaks are having direct economic consequences: Brazil has announced that Swedish firm Saab will fill an order for 36 fighter

By Sam Roggeveen

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Spying on Kristiani Herawati: A loss of judgement

The Weekend Australian carried a ‘well-sourced’ article defending our listening in on Kristiani Herawati, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's wife. Quoting the usual ‘well-connected insider who asked not to be named’, it argues that she was a legitimate target because she was

By Stephen Grenville

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Repatriating female foreign fighters: political not personal

Polls apart: how Australian views have changed on “boat people”

Indonesia’s domestically focused foreign policy

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Australia and Asia

US pivot is faltering, which might be a good thing

Australia-Japan defence agreement: Normal, not extraordinary

What Abbott's business delegation can learn in Japan, Korea and China

Abbott to sign security pact with Japan, but what will he offer China?

Abbott goes to Asia: The security dimension

Abbott sees a more liberal China ahead

Don't let fear stand in the way of a debate on a larger Australia

Down under? Boxing kangaroos? Australia's outdated self-image

Australia-Indonesia relations: It's always personal

Incompetence: Australia's incursions into Indonesian waters

Spying row: Why Indonesia is tougher on Canberra than on Washington

Can Australia-India ties flourish if governments are asleep?

East China Sea: Is Australia hitting the 'pause' button on the Japan relationship?

What Peter Cosgrove thinks about Indonesia

Australia-China relations off the rails? Not so fast

Australia-Indonesia relations: Getting ahead of the curve

Snowden leaks now hurting US exports, so is spying worth it?

Spying on Kristiani Herawati: A loss of judgement

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